Author: healthadmin
USC Hospitals Keck Medicine and USC Student Health, part of Keck Medicine, have been named an LGBTQ+ Health Equity Leader in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2026 Health Equity Index (HEI). The HEI is the industry-standard benchmarking tool for LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity practices in healthcare and evaluates hospitals on five criteria: To receive the LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader designation, a healthcare facility must achieve the highest score on each criterion and an overall score of 100. All patients deserve safe and respectful care, and Keck Medicine is proud to serve the diverse needs of the LGBTQ+ community. This…
Daily life is shaped by the solar day, which affects when you wake up, eat, work, and sleep. Inside the body, a similar internal timing system known as the circadian clock, present in nearly every cell, synchronizes many biological functions, including sleep, metabolism, hormone release, and even immune system activity. Now, researchers at Kyushu University have elucidated a previously unknown mechanism by which a circadian clock protein called brain-muscle ARNT-like 1 (BMAL1) enhances the inflammatory response of immune cells. The findings provide new insights into how the body clock influences immune responses and could pave the way for new approaches…
Hearing loss is a common cause of disability worldwide, with 30-60% of cases caused by genetic factors. LOXHD1 is a gene essential for essential protein interactions involved in maintaining normal hair cell function. Certain mutations in this gene can cause progressive or non-progressive congenital hearing loss in individuals, called “pathogenic mutations.” Researchers looked deeper into this gene to learn more about the genetic causes of hearing loss in Chinese people, and discovered new variants within this gene to further investigate these causes, in addition to what early intervention and potential drug treatments could mean for people who are susceptible to…
As more people live, work, and travel at high altitudes, experts are calling for major shifts in the way altitude-related health conditions are understood, diagnosed, and treated. A new perspective has been revealed Signal transduction and targeted therapy We highlight the increasing disease burden associated with hypoxic environments and introduce a comprehensive framework designed to advance the future of high-altitude medicine. High-altitude regions, generally defined as areas above 2,500 meters above sea level, are home to millions of permanent residents and are visited by many tourists each year. Exposure to reduced oxygen levels can affect multiple organs and cause a…
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered a striking difference between the dawn and dusk regions of the superhot exoplanet WASP-121 b. These boundary zones, known as terminators, mark the transition between the planet’s permanent day side and permanent night side. The discovery provided the clearest evidence yet that the two regions have different temperatures and atmospheric compositions, confirming predictions that had previously existed only in theoretical models. The discovery comes from measurements of infrared starlight passing through the planet’s atmosphere as WASP-121 b passes in front of its host star. The researchers discovered the uneven absorption…
Social learning research has found that people with high intelligence are more likely to switch to a new solution when it becomes available, especially if that solution is better than the existing one. High openness to experience was also associated with switching to new solutions, but especially to solutions that were of equal or lower quality than the existing solution. This research personality and individual differences. The ability to learn from others is an important trait for human evolutionary success. This ability is called social learning. It allows humans to acquire knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and skills by observing and interacting…
WellSpan Health saw a 66% reduction in workplace violence within a year of implementing technology from connected safety platform Canopy, the organizations announced in a joint case study. The organization said the reduction in injuries from DART (multi-day removal, restricted or redirected) included centralizing public safety operations and emergency response protocols, supported by wearables and real-time location system (RTLS) technology for staff to call for help in the event of an escalation. Before working with Canopy, Bill White, WelSpan Health’s vice president of public safety, said notifications are typically delayed. “Our team members didn’t have an easy way to ask…
Madrigal Pharmaceuticals has installed a 6-foot-tall, 41-foot-wide inflatable liver in a Philadelphia park to commemorate World Fatty Liver Awareness Day. Pennsylvania-based Madrigal, which markets the metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) treatment Rezdifla, created the exhibit to raise awareness of liver health. Visitors walk through the organ and learn about the different stages of liver disease. “By putting a giant, inflated liver in front of people, this campaign creates an attention-grabbing and memorable way to spark curiosity, deepen understanding of liver health, and educate people about the risks of fatty liver disease and MASH,” Kathryn Robison, Madrigal’s executive director of corporate communications,…
Rice is well known as one of the world’s most important food crops, but scientists have shown that rice could also serve as inspiration for a new generation of smart materials. Researchers discovered that compressed rice grains behave abnormally under pressure. When compressed slowly, the particles remain relatively strong. But squeezing it down too soon actually weakens it. This surprising behavior has allowed scientists to create new materials that could one day be used in soft robots that automatically adjust their stiffness or in protective gear that reacts differently depending on the force of an impact. An international research team…
Public health leaders must address overlapping crises from seasonal illnesses, measles surges, and climate disruptions using 2026 population health trends.